SP leader named in murder of youth over love affair

A youth was shot dead over a suspected love affair allegedly at the behest of a senior Samajwadi party district leader, police said on Thursday.

Police said that Kalicharan Yadav, till recently the district president of the Mulayam Singh Yadav Youth Brigade, and his family members have been named in the FIR filed in connection with the murder of Gaurav Yadav (20) yesterday in the Sarai Jawan locality near Jai Ganj by the victim's kin.

The victim was allegedly intercepted and attacked with sticks in broad daylight while he was moving on a two-wheeler before being shot dead.

Rakesh Yadav, Gaurav's father, said that they had been for several months receiving threats from the family of the SP leader and had even filed a complaint in this regard at the Sasni Gate Police Station.

However, "no preventive action was taken in this connection", the victim's family members alleged.

Police said that a "romantic affair" is reportedly the cause of friction between the two families.

The victim, it is alleged, had been close to a girl in Kalicharan's family and had also spent time in jail in conenction with a case related to the affair.

Senior Superintendent of Police Amit Pathak told reporters that a manhunt had been launched and the "culprits are expected to be nabbed shortly".

Pathak said that patrolling in the Jai Ganj locality has been intensified due to tension over the killing in the heart of the old city.